The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the UK’s current CPI and RPI inflation rates.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
CPI inflation was 0.1 per cent in November 2015 and RPI inflation was 1.1 per cent. Low inflation is being driven by falling food and energy prices, and we continue to see a combination of low prices, rising pay packets and record high employment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department is making on encouraging buy-to-let mortgage lenders to allow longer tenancies in their terms and conditions.
Brandon Lewis
The Government supports longer tenancies, and promotes them through its Model Tenancy Agreement. We have continued to encourage mortgage lenders to permit family friendly tenancies, and the majority have now changed their policies, and permit tenancies of up to two to three years.
A letter was sent to the Council for Mortgage Lenders on this subject in January 2016, urging them to encourage those lenders who have not changed their policies to do so, and to encourage lenders to promote the benefits of the Model Tenancy Agreement to their landlord customers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations were received from (a) USDAW, (b) other trade unions, (c) ACS and (d) other trade and workers’ associations in response to the government’s consultation, Devolving Sunday trading rules, published on 5 August 2015; and what (i) number and (ii) proportion of those respondents answered (A) yes, (B) no and (C) otherwise to Question 1 in that consultation.
Anna Soubry
The Government received 7,171 responses to the consultation, though a significantly smaller number used the standard online consultation form and addressed the questions directly.
USDAW responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. USDAW answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.
TUC and the National Union of General and Municipal Workers (GMB) also responded to the consultation and their representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. UNISON responded to the consultation but did not meet with officials. All three (100%) responded no to Question 1 in the consultation.
ACS responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.
The department does not hold full data from this consultation broken down by respondent type as a large portion of respondents chose to respond in their own words rather than addressing the consultation questions directly, and/or did not indicate the type of organisation they represented.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-03-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to lower the blood alcohol limit for drivers from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml.
Andrew Jones
The Government has no plans to lower the drink drive limit. We believe that rigorous enforcement and serious penalties for drink drivers are a more effective deterrent than changing the drink driving limit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the sources of public finance will be for Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprints; whether each such footprint will have separate accounts; and whether such footprints will have the ability to borrow.
George Freeman
Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) footprints are not statutory entities and therefore will not have the ability to borrow. As set out in the NHS England Board paper in December 2015, organisations covered by the STP footprints may collectively apply to operate using a system control total.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether purdah arrangements for the EU referendum apply to policy statements to be published by NHS England on the commissioning of treatments.
George Freeman
Whilst the pre-election guidance for the European Union referendum has yet to be published, it is not anticipated that it would prevent the routine publication of clinical commissioning policy statements which are a ‘business as usual’ function of NHS England.
The Cabinet Office publishes pre-election guidance for civil servants which also applies to NHS England and other arm’s length bodies. This can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/election-guidance-for-civil-servants
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many spoilt ballots were counted in the 2016 Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
Chris Skidmore
Provisional analysis undertaken by the Government has identified that a total of 311,509 ballot papers were rejected at the elections of Police and Crime Commissioners held on 5 May 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been spent under each cost heading by UK defence attachés in each year since 2010.
Mike Penning
The following information shows Ministry of Defence previous spending for the Defence Attaché and Advisor Network from Financial Year 2010-11 to 2015-16. The information is not available to give an accurate breakdown by cost heading for each Defence Attaché. These figures do not include costs associated with British Defence Section United States as those costs cannot be broken down by cost heading.
|
Financial Year |
Personnel |
Equipment Support Costs |
Infrastructure Costs |
Inventory/ Other Consumption |
Net Interest Payable |
Other Costs |
Receipts and other Income |
Total RDEL |
|
2010-11 |
£21,296,462 |
£452,981 |
£12,661,662 |
£410,753 |
-£1,217 |
£8,924,225 |
-£110,851 |
£43,634,016 |
|
2011-12 |
£22,017,758 |
£353,361 |
£1,496,946 |
£360,208 |
-£2,260 |
£17,188,040 |
-£97,264 |
£41,316,790 |
|
2012-13 |
£21,782,956 |
£646,092 |
£1,432,271 |
£272,149 |
-£2,507 |
£17,023,974 |
-£296,291 |
£40,858,644 |
|
2013-14 |
£22,819,582 |
£270,350 |
£1,424,211 |
£386,100 |
-£3,023 |
£17,099,861 |
-£213,642 |
£41,783,439 |
|
2014-15 |
£23,919,518 |
£283,823 |
£1,822,433 |
£347,263 |
-£3,538 |
£18,705,945 |
-£136,778 |
£44,938,665 |
|
2015-16 |
£25,974,993 |
£292,365 |
£1,634,154 |
£968,244 |
-£1,973 |
£16,844,778 |
£4,443 |
£45,717,004 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department provided in Homelessness Prevention Grant to each local authority in London in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14, (c) 2014-15 and (d) 2015-16.
Mr Marcus Jones
We have made available over £500 million to local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle homelessness. Since 2010, this has helped local authorities to prevent 935,800 households from becoming homeless.
The attached table (London Borough Homelessness Prevention Grant allocation 2012-13) shows the allocations of Homelessness Prevention Grant in 2012- 13 for London Boroughs.
From 2013-14 support for preventing homelessness has been included in the annual Local Government Finance Settlement, split between Revenue Support Grant and estimated retained business rates. In the following years London Boroughs’ level of notional grant was as set out in the attached table (London Borough Homelessness Prevention Grant allocation 2013-16).
Revenue Support Grant and retained business rates are not ring-fenced. It is up to individual authorities to decide how grant funding should be spent in order to deliver local services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the likely value of increased trade between the UK and Canada as a result of the EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and what steps he plans to take to encourage trade in (a) Alberta, (b) British Columbia and (c) the rest of Canada.
Anna Soubry
I assume my hon. Friend means the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which is the trade deal between the EU and Canada and this is the subject on which I will be answering.
Analysis suggests that, as a result of CETA, UK exports to Canada will increase by 29% and Canadian exports to the UK will increase by 15%. In the long run, the benefit to the UK economy will be of the order of £1.3 billion per annum.
UK Trade and Investment will promote to British businesses all the new opportunities arising from CETA through a range of marketing activities across the UK and through the network of UK Posts in Canada. An accompanying guide will translate the agreement into an easily accessible document to help businesses identify potential benefits, including the tariff liberalisation on manufactured goods and food and drink products; greater access to government procurement contracts in all provinces at all levels of the Canadian government, including British Columbia and Alberta; and longer patent protection provided for pharmaceutical companies to protect R&D investment.